Lecture 17:
Tao Time Changing
Something has started happening in the world of Tao Shiatsu. Taken one by one, these events might be seen as things of only little significance. The construction of a water well in a Sri Lankan Village will soon to see completion in April. We, as well as the local minister and five hundred village people will be celebrating together the ground-breaking ceremony. (And Marcel "Yogi" Bear, a student in New Zealand, has donated $2000 to the Foundation for the second well construction).
Preparations are also being made for the Gathering in Tokyo. There is the advertising campaign for the International Convention in Thailand 2003 which has started with the help of Tao Shiatsu students coming together from various parts of the world.
And there is more. With the re-design and enhancement of the Tao Shiatsu website, all the people who are involved in various fields of Tao Shiatsu, such as the Tao Foundation, the Ki Meditation Network, Buddhist Chi-Gong & Nembutsu Sangha, will be interconnected and able to communicate easily.
With this kind of networking, it will make it possible to unifiy,, communicate with, and support each other to expand these activities.
It seems to be becoming clearer that the future of Tao Shiatsu will not just simply be in "shiatsu" but as a movement for the growth of "Spiritual Culture" in this time age. When we consider the true nature of Tao Shiatsu, we come to understand that Tao Shiatsu only becomes truly "real" by going beyond Tao Shiatsu.
The word "Tao" means the spirit of universal nature. Tao Shiatsu is the unification, in the realm of Ki, of this universal spirit with all living beings. Ryokyu Endo himself has felt that the time when people really awaken to Tao Shiatsu is in the year 2005. So now is the preparation time. (Hence it was thought that the International Convention in Thailand next year would be a kind of a preparation for this awakening).
Yet the feeling of "something starting to happen" is most definitely in the air. One of the signs of this is not only the shifting of the heart of students who have been studying, but also of those who have only just recently experienced Tao Shiatsu for the first time. These changes of the heart are synchronizing with all of the various activities that are occurring and may even be effecting the sub-consciousness of people who have never known Tao Shiatsu.
About one thousand people access the Tao Shiatsu website everyday at the moment.
What does all this progress mean to us? Well, it means, we must confront ourselves and Tao Shiatsu with ever more determination.
From a lecture in the Tokyo class: "In Tao Shiatsu a world manifests, "affecting all beings and in which all beings heal all others". For everyone in the class this has been experienced at least once, with actual feeling, as the reality of Ki. And therefore if there is no heart of "praying for the good of all beings" in the method, it is not Tao Shiatsu. In the case of someone trying to "use" the Tao Shiatsu method for their treatment, that shiatsu can even result in giving damage. This can be clearly understood from your experience in the class working on one another. So now it is the time for each person to decide how to deal with Tao Shiatsu. How you deal with Tao Shiatsu decides the quality of your Tao Shiatsu practice. And also how you deal with universal nature and yourself as well."
From a lecture in the Kyoto class. "Are you sincerely determined to do Tao Shiatsu? Would you continue to do this even if you were to become the only one? Would you carry the vow for all beings and be responsible to the Tao? Really committing yourself means on that level. I myself had been teaching for about twenty years with just a few people in the class. So I always prepare myself to go back there. Now is the time for each of us to confront ourselves and decide - how seriously are you going to commit to the way? There is only one of two options. To go forward or to go back."
As you know, there are many paradoxes in Tao Shiatsu.. One such paradox is that the more you advance in the class, and the longer you study, the more responsibility you have towards the Tao. And if you ignore this, the method becomes shallow - this message in particular ought to be considered deeply. If you do not increase the heart, the heart will go backwards. This is the truth of the Ki world and the law of Tao."
But if people truly start increasing Tao Heart, how valuable for the world.